The FIRST TIME in life that you need a walker!!

I went for a walk with a friend tonight and came home to daddy and Kaylee going for a walk also!!!

I was glad daddy was home and thought to do this with her for the first time. She is growing up so fast.

Kitchen Remodeling

Brian and I did a little "art" project over the weekend. It is one of the last kitchen remodeling that we will do for a while. I still want to get new floors and a new stove, but that is going to come a lot later.

Here is the before pictures: Don't you just love the blue counter!!!

The Primer is on:

And here is the finished project.

Just one more thing checked off the list of updates!!!

Perfect Proposal and almost 3 Years Later

Here is the picture taken right before Brian proposed to me at Forest Park.

Yesterday, we took Kaylee back to the spot to get another family photo.

Lots more photos to come soon. I can't believe my baby is almost 1.

Rearranging the pantry

Kaylee decided that she wanted to help rearrange the pantry. Specifically the cereal. I thought, "what was the harm?" It would keep her busy while I prepared supper.

Then she found the cheerios box. I knew it was open but did not think she could get the inside plastic open to get any out.

Can you tell where this is going. I was soooo wrong.

So then what do I do? I let her eat a few off the floor. Don't worry, I had just cleaned the floor:)

I think she was going for the prize in the bozx until she found out it was more a boy toy then she didn't want it anymore.

She did help me clean up though.

Lesson learned!!!

To Do List

My friend Nicole posted some things that she has been working on around her house. I thought maybe I would post some also to let you in on a little secret - I am obsessed with being organized. There, I said it - boy, do I feel better:)

We are not getting our house ready to sell like Nicole is, but just doing a few minor things to slowly make it more up to date.

You remember recently that I painted the kitchen? Well now I have installed all new hardware on the cabinets.

Gold:(

Silver:)

Also, I need to reorganize this pantry in the kitchen. It holds our baking supplies, tupperware, and other misc. items you don't use that often that maybe you got for your wedding:) Yes, Mary, I use the mixer quite often don't worry. It is just in this pantry as I don't have anywhere else to put it.:)

One more thing is going to happen in the kitchen that I am SUPER excited about. We are going to paint our countertops in a granite color. If that makes sense. Currently they are a blue color. We got a kit for it and I am way excited to do it. I guess you could say this is the "cheap mans" way of updating a kitchen. We will have to totally redo our kitchen some day, but for now we are just putting under $100 in hardware, paint, and other things to make it updated. I will get a before and after picture of the counter top when we do it.

In our bedroom, we are replacing these vertical blinds with other blinds. I am not really a fan of mini blinds but these will do, Brian likes them. I do have a goal to paint our master bedroom but not sure when that will come. Maybe more fall when the windows are open.

This is our spare bedroom. I have already started to organize it so this picture is taken mid way. I went through our file cabinet and got rid of lots of papers that no longer need to be in there. I took out the picture that had all the papers in their in case any of our personal info was noticable. We have people staying here soon, so I need to get this room finished soon.

Other projects that are being completed are:

Put a bathroom in downstairs. We have a finished basement but no bathroom so Brian is going to put one in:) That will be this winter.

Paint our basement - I think I am just getting tired of all the beige in our house so it all just needs to go.

Update our garden - replant things and plant a vegetable garden - this might be more next spring.

Well I think that may be just about it. It is amazing what you get done when you are staying home more:)

Zoo

I took Kaylee to the zoo this morning before the heat set in and we didn't want to be outside. It was a lot of fun. There was almost no one there and we got the animals to oursleves for a little while. Some animals were not out to play yet, like the giraffs and tigers, but others were very active. The hippos were the most fun. I got some great shots of Kaylee with the them since no one was in front of the window.

Here we are at the elephants:

Here are the hippos!!!

It was LOVE at first sight:)


And then I think he wanted to eat her.

It was a fun morning but when the temp rose closer to 100 we got out of there:)

The Day is Here

Our first day with no car at home. Of course tomorrow we are taking Brian to work and I am taking Kaylee to the zoo in the morning before it gets too hot and then we are going to a friends pool for an hour in the afternoon to cool off. Rough huh?

Happy Father's Day

To my wonderful husband and daddy to Kaylee!!! Thank you for all you do and for being a great Christian role model for this family. We love you so much.

Today was a great day. Kaylee and I let daddy sleep in, made him one of his favorite breakfasts, went to Church, and then we took daddy to the waterpark. Here are a few pictures from our wonderful day. We love you daddy!!

Also, here is a new favorite thing for daddy daughter to do.

Tiny Tots Water Time

I took Kaylee to the tiny tots water time at the Manchester Aquatic Center. It was great. They open the pool early for birth to 5 year olds only. You have to stay in the kiddie pool but we LOVED it. It was pretty busy but that didn't seem to bother anyone. I think since it is all young kids and the parents are RIGHT THERE with their kids, it is much nicer.


Kaylee was a little timid at first. Once she got going (about 2 minutes in) she loved it. She even got to go down the little water slide but I do not have any pictures of that because I had to be at the top of the slide to send her off and another lady from our Church that was their with her two boys caught her for me.

The only down side was, I did not have any toys for her to play with. I am not sure what I was thinking that she would not want to play with her rubber duckie in the pool:) We are going to ask daddy if it is ok to get a small pool for the summer (we took back the other little play mat we had gotten) and I will get her a few toys to play with also.

It got pretty crowded after I took these pictures. I think everyone else was still coming in and getting their kids ready.






Fearless!!! I was afraid her little knees were going to be all scraped up but they look fine.

Cute little video fo her playing in the water.

Last Week in Review

Last week was a very busy week.

We had a playdate with our friend Logan and his mom Jackie. I love the picture of them under the desk together.

Kaylee and I made a quick trip up to Rockford. On the way, we stopped at my sister's house. Here is her three kids wiht Kaylee. They were cute trying to see her crawl. I finally had to tell them to give her some room to crawl. They love their cousin.

GG gave Kaylee her birthday present a little early so she would be able to see her play with it. I think it is her favorite toy right now. We are at home when these were taken - hence the messy hair!!

Oh, and remember this?

Well, we decided we were all together again, why not get an updated picture.

Whew, what a busy week. Glad it is a start to a new week.

France

Brian and I got an invitation to a wedding in France today!! It is actually NOT a joke but is one of his college roommates who is living in France. He came all the way here for our wedding two years ago (actually, he was in our wedding and we asked him before planning on it because we knew that was a lot to ask, and a long way to come, Brian was roommates with him all four years) and so I am trying to convince Brian that it is only expected of us to return the favor and go to his wedding. Am I right?

Can you help me out here? Brian needs a little convincing:)

11 Months Old

In a blink of an eye you have gone from this:

to this:

Kaylee, I can't believe you are 11 months old today. I can see your personality coming through more and more these days. I have to say, some is good and some, well, we will have to work on it:)

You make dad and I smile and laugh. I think you are learning a new trick almost everyday. Right now one of your biggest things to do are to copy everything anyone else does, like coughing and sighing. You have been learning your sign language, and making up your own sign language to let me know what you want. You love to give kisses, which I don't mind at all.

You are also walking, with assistance, and crawling with purpose. I can't keep up with you anymore. You love, or are obsessed with, doors. If it opens and closes, you do it over and over and over again:)

As far as eating goes, you have not found a food that you didn't like. Especially if it is fruit, you can not get enough of it. It is fun to see you play with bigger toys now. You love your play kitchen and the little people farm.

I think my favorite things to do with you are to take you to the park and the zoo. You absolutely love the slide and the swings. You glee the whole way down the slide and are not even afraid of the big slides. You love the swings and could be there all day long if I let you. I think you also like the zoo as much as mommy does. You are very observant with the people there and you love to see all the animals moving around.

You now have 10 teeth and I think a few more on the way. Last time I weighed you, you weighed 23 pounds.

Kaylee Grace, we love you so much and pray for you everyday to know Christ and his love.

Happy 11 month birthday, doodlebug!!!

Walk This Way

Kaylee is walking-while holding onto furniture or us!! Oh, and she is destroying everything in sight!!

2 Weeks from Today

What is 2 Weeks from today, you ask. Well, it is when we become a one car family!!! My lease is up on my car and we are just going to turn it in and get rid of the car payment. This is all part of the "cutting back because of the economy" stage. We just can't justify buying a car with some of our savings until we know for sure things are settled down.

Ok, I am not sure if I am excited about this or just plain scared. I am not one that can just sit at home for the day. We do have some good parks around our house and I will be taking Brian to work atleast one day a week so I can get groceries and do other things. I know I will have the freedom to take him to work any day I have plans, but it just is a little scary to think that most days I will be at home. I guess I am a stay at home mom:) I just never did the first part.

With that being said, my new mode of transportation is going to be a bike and this. It will be good exercise atleast!!!

I guess we will see how long this lasts. I know of other people who do it, I am just not for sure if it is for me!!

Future Mozart?

Botanical Garden

Sorry, I am a little behind on posting.


This past weekend, Brian and I had probably the most relaxing weekend in a long time. On saturday, we just did odd projects around the house, ran a few errands, laid on a blanket in the shade with Kaylee, and just hung out. On sunday, we went to first service at Church and then enjoyed the sun the rest of the afternoon. The Botanical garden is one of our favorite places to go. Brian loves taking pictures of the flowers - and I love to print them and have them hanging in our house!!!

Kaylee loves the water, so when we got her close to the poll that has water running down it and you can touch it, it was love at first sight.

I usually get a picture of Kaylee in her stroller while we are there, but this time I tried to position her with some flowers behind her so you can tell where we are at.

My neighbor asked if I try to coordinate Kaylee's and I's outfits in matching colors. I guess sometimes I do, especially for Church. Brian usually ends up matching us in some way also. I do not buy outfits to match though!!

Brian got some awesome pictures of Kaylee and I with the fish. It is pretty dirty water, but she was amazed to be seeing them so close.